


09 - Doom

by MemoriesOfVoxei



Series: 100 Themes Challenge [10]
Category: One Piece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-16
Updated: 2014-05-16
Packaged: 2018-01-25 00:56:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1623206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MemoriesOfVoxei/pseuds/MemoriesOfVoxei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens after Ace dies?</p>
            </blockquote>





	09 - Doom

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, this takes place right after Ace's death... I am in no way religious or anything, I am a complete atheist, so if I somehow offended someone with this fic, I apologize in advance.

He was never one to believe into those kind of things, and that must have been the reason why he couldn't understand the situation for a while. He had felt the burning sensation spreading in his whole body before it went completely numb. His brother's tiny arms weren't embracing him anymore as his body fell on the dirty ground, completely lifeless. Lifeless, yet there he was, watching his brother's pained expression when he understood that Ace had died and could no longer be saved from his fate. He was there, bodiless, standing uselessly as the same fist that had killed him damaged his little brother badly. He couldn't do anything to protect him this time, and he had to admit that he was scared limitless for his life. He had died to protect him, bu he wouldn't bear to know it could be in vain in the end. That's why he was relieved when a man called Law was able to treat him. He had stayed in the operation room, unknown to everyone, while the doctor did his best to keep the younger pirate alive. It definitely wasn't a beautiful sight. There was blood everywhere. His brother's blood. Even though Luffy had been saved from the war, it didn't exactly mean that he would still survive. Even once he was done with the operation, there was still a chance, a bad one, that his wound would get infected and leave him to die in the end, or that he would bleed to death if it reopened and was left with no proper treatment. That's why, when Luffy finally woke up and went in a rampage at the remembrance of Ace's disappearance, he was worried like never before. He was completely destroying everything around him, leaving trails of blood behind as he yelled and punched in refusal. Ace wanted to tell him to stop what he was doing, to listen to him, that he was being stupid and reckless again and that he... that he couldn't save him anymore... But no matter how much he tried to cry out, not a word left his soul-like lips, no sound. So he was truly glad when Jimbei showed up and beat up some sense into his little brother. He was happy that the fishman kept his promise of taking care of the teen, but he was even more happy when he prevented Luffy from killing himself that way. And Luffy was left in tears, blaming himself for the so much unwanted separation, blaming himself for his weakness. And Ace, at that time, only wanted to hug him, tell him that, no, it wasn't his fault that he died, but his own because he was the one who acted recklessly and got captured in the first place. He wanted to tell him to move forward and continue on living in happiness. And to his greatest joy, Jimbei passed his message to Luffy, who realized that he still had his nakama. The last thing he saw before darkness started to engulf him was Luffy, his beloved little brother, crying of happiness and  _relief_  for having found something worth living for.

He truly never was one to believe in that kind of things. That must be why, when he woke up as a soul in  _that_  place, he choked. Compared to the previous days he spent as a ghost beside his living brother, he could feel the chains binding his wrists and ankles. He could see the flames acting as walls all around him. And he could smell the burning flesh and boiling blood sullying the air. He could hear the faraway pained cries of other souls like him being tortured. And when he felt the intense burning sensation in his back, he could finally make a sound as a yelp escaped his lips, mostly out of surprise. He was in Hell.

In this place, there was no day and no night. There was no hour, no minute, no second. There was no sky, no real walls and no ground. And there was no death. He spent what seems like an eternity, chained to the fire walls and being constantly whipped and burned by a lava whip. His soul body never went numb at the pain, so each strike was worse than the previous one. At first, he couldn't help but let out cries of pain, but a great number of hits ago, no sound, not a grunt, not a sob, not even a frown, was let in the open, because he knew he had to go through this. He had stolen before. He had killed. He had had sex without being married. He had felt gluttony, lust, pride, sloth, envy, greed and wrath. Every deadly sin. Receiving all of this was painful, but he had to go through it. Because Luffy had loved him, and still does. Because if Luffy knew, he would blame himself even more. Because if he showed him any weaknesses, Luffy would get too cocky again and laugh at him.

To his surprise, he was rewarded. He was brought into this wide grey place filled with many other souls. There were no walls, and again no sky. Just grey, everywhere. Souls were wandering hopelessly around, and he knew there was no exit to this place. He was often attacked by other souls, trying to kill him. The first time he was backstabbed, and he died. But here there is no death. And he weirdly "woke up" standing still in the middle of the same never-ending grey. He was never taken by surprise again. However, every time he was attacked, an odd voice kept on telling him to fight back. To  _kill_. But he knew it was useless, because there was no death here. And Luffy wouldn't want that. That's why, when the voice became constant, telling him to hurt any soul that he crossed path with, he ignored it.

This time again he was rewarded. This was clearly a whore house. Lust in the eyes of every soul. To his bewilderment, it was fairly easy to ignore everything and not be tempted. In fact, it was disgusting him. Sure, he had done it with some women before, he even tried it with men, but this time it was different. And he knew why. Because that's when he noticed that all he cared about was his pure innocent little brother. He was the only one he truly loved, and he would not only feel like betraying him, but he just couldn't think doing anything like this with him. He loved him, more than in a brotherly way, but he just felt so  _wrong_. It wasn't long before he got rewarded again.

This place was definitely a whole lot different from the others. This time, there was a ground. Made only of dust, ashes and rocks, but a ground nonetheless. And there was a sky. Well, if you consider a moonless and starless black hole above your head a sky. But, more importantly, there were buildings. Wooden structures that resembled very much like a rundown western village. Souls were again wandering, eyes void of emotion. That is, until some kind of faraway loud rumbling shook the whole place. Fear lit up in their eyes, and they started to run away. Either they tried to climb the rock walls contouring the town, or they hid in the houses. Ace, however, even though his whole being was filled with terror, stayed still. It wasn't because he was paralysed, like some people who only stared wide-eyed at the orange glow lighting the place, but rather because he didn't want to run. He had to confront it. Luffy would be highly disappointed in him if he just ran without even trying to fight. And even when an overly huge black shelled beast showed up, lava spilling from its open mouth like drool, burning the ground and only leaving a hole beneath, he stayed still. And when its glowing yellow eyes stopped on Ace's soul, silently saying that he had chosen its next prey, the man didn't falter. Instead, he turned all of his fear into strength, adrenaline rushing through his veins, and launched himself at the beast. He tried to fight it, and even when all his punches and kicks only resulted in him getting burned, which was extremely painful, he tried to fight until the end. Then end which was him getting eaten.

When he "woke up", it was just like nothing had happened at all. The place was intact, and the souls were back into wandering around without any purpose. Then it cam again. And again Ace fought. And again he suffered from his fight. And again he got killed. The same pattern happened again and again, and eventually their confrontations were lasting longer after each fight. Ace had long ago lost count of the number of times it happened, and he couldn't care less. All that truly mattered was to keep on fighting and to never run away. At some point, he had noticed that his soul body had started to change. Not only did it seem to get a little more used to the burning flames and lava, but he also seemed to get more muscled, and more tall than the other souls.

Then there was this single fight. During this fight, which lasted a lot longer than before, he was the only one left standing. Every other soul, except from himself, had already been eaten or killed by the beast. And it wasn't long after that that he no longer felt any pain from the fire, nor the lava. And he could control both element. He was wondering whether it was because he had regained his ability from the Mera Mera no Mi, or if it was some other odd thing from Hell. When he got killed again, pierced by a way too big fang, he got his answer. He "woke up" again, and upon exploring his body further, he understood. In both of his hands, two big hard long things stood on his forehead. Horns. He had become a demon, no longer just a soul. Not that it was a bad thing. He definitely grew stronger, a LOT stronger, and a smile crept up his face at his little brother's imagined reaction. Stars would definitely light up his eyes while he'd exclaim how cool his big brother had become. This thought was enough. That time, he defeated the beast.

Now, he was chained up in complete darkness. He couldn't move an inch, not even a millimetre. He was alone. He was bored. He didn't know if it was a real "test" from Hell or if it was punishment for having beat down th beast, but he didn't like it. He wanted to scream, to demand to be free from this place, but he refused to give in to impatience. He had gone through a lot ever since he died, for Luffy, and for his love for him, he wouldn't loose his cool yet. It was the only time he actually had time to think. He remembered everything that had happened when he was alive. And it felt like ages ago. He now fully realized how lonely he felt, how agonizing his fate truly was. He felt like he had been in this dark place for years already...

But then  _he_  came. Out of nowhere. He simply appeared, walking over to him casually, with his big toothy grin lighting Ace's whole world up. He didn't know how he got there, but he knew that his little brother was really there. He had big beautiful fluffy wings on his back, completely outstretched as id telling ace to admire its black feathers. And grey orbs stared into grey, and a soft delicate hand, that he knew had a lot of fighting experience, rose to caress his cheek.

"I finally found you." The boy whispered, a light of joy in his eyes. And Ace cried. He cried for all the suffering her new that his little brother went through after his death. He cried for all the pain and agony that he felt while being tortured. He cried for the misery, loneliness and hardships that was brought upon him in this Hell. And he cried out of relief, because seeing the angel's wings on his brother's back meant that Luffy hadn't gone through all he went through. The boy pulled him into a hug and kissed his forehead in an attempt to comfort his big brother. And when he was asked what he was doing here, he knew he had to answer.

"I died. I became the Pirate King. I fulfilled my dream and helped my nakama reach their goals. But in the end, I got caught and executed. I ended up in Heaven, where everything was peaceful. But it wasn't perfect, because I couldn't find you. Then I met a man, and he told me you were here, and offered to bring me to you. I know who he was. Black angel wings. Fallen Angel. Lucifer. I was told he was a bad guy, but I knew he wasn't lying. So I followed him." To say Ace was surprised would be an understatement. But when he took a grip of his mind, he could only smile back. His pure innocent little Luffy had sinned, made a deal with the devil, became a fallen angel, only to see him.

The both of them stayed together in a warm embrace, observing the doom that had fell on them. But enjoying it nonetheless.


End file.
